China＇s ＂New Generation＂ of Olympic Champions

THERE is nothing shy about China＇s new generation of Olympic sportsmen. Born almost exclusively in the 1980s, the athletically gifted young men and women who will represent China at the 2008 Games are far more willing to open up to the public than their predecessors, and like 20-somethings everywhere, they are at home on the Internet, managing their own fan blogs and communicating with their peers online.Their uninhibited self-expression has attracted the attention of commercial advertisers, and occasionally some less welcome interest, and they are celebrated as China＇s ＂new generation＂ in sports circles, ready to take center stage in August before a world audience.     

New Dreams,New Troubles Haunt New-Wave Migrants

They are rural according to their residential registration books, but in the real world, they are city birds. Many of the new generation of migrant workers joined their parents at an early age; others were simply born in the cities where their parents labored for a better life. Having grown up in their adoptive urban home,     

Thoroughly Modem Migrants

Chinese migrant workers have made the cover of 17me magazine for their role in promoting China＇s development. They have dreams and pursuits like you and I, and they long to blend into cities and become part of modem society. These citizens and their aspirations are getting the respect and concern they deserve. As this issue goes to press, the Chinese people are celebrating the 61st anniversary of the founding of the PRC, and this special report on migrant workers takes a closer look at the lives and inner realities of the generation that will pose a challenge to the country＇s social institutions and services.     

Is China Ready for Home Schools?

<正>The new semester has begun and students have gradually returned to their schools. However, the end of the summer holiday doesn’t mean a return to school for some children. Today, a growing number of children in China are staying at home, not because they are giving up education but because their parents think they will actually receive a better education at home.     

The People of Honor and Duty

Lives are the most valuable things on this planet. As the bodies of eight of China's UN peacekeepers who lost their lives in faraway Haiti earthquake return to their homeland, the whole nation is immersed in deep sorrow and grief. Besides heavy hearts, what fills our breasts to a great extent are strong feelings of respect for them and pride in what they had done for those they did not know.     

When Work Stops the Fun Begins——China's Happy Seniors

AT early morning and evening, groups of senior citizens doing their constitutional in the public squares and parks of China's small towns and big cities are a common sight The obvious enjoyment they take in ballroom dancing, toyji boxing and swordplay is representative of the generally happy state of mind of China's retired citizens - estimated at 143 million, or 10 percent of the population, at the end of 2005. Their physical and spiritual wellbeing is a matter of common     

Singaporean Chinese Association Celebrates 5th Anniversary

The Hua Yuan Association is a non-profit organization for Chinese immigrants in Singapore. Established in May 2001, the association consists of professional Chinese who have migrated to Singapore in the past two decades. The association is aimed at helping new immigrants to adapt to a multicultural society, facilitating communication and friendships between members, and promoting friendship between the two countries. Its members come from different parts of China. Not only are they more knowledgeable and open-minded than their predecessors, they also enjoy higher social status and greater influence in Singaporean society. In its five years of operation, the H     

Tax Rebate Winners and Losers

COVER STORY China, long hailed as the cheap manufacturing capital of the world, is putting financial pressure on parts of this very industry. Tax rebates favorable to textile, iron and steel industries, for example, are being cast aside and picked up by hi-tech and medical industries. While this may be a partial remedy to alleviate China's colossal trade surplus-which irritates international neighbors-and clean up the environment, many small manufacturers are feeling the heat. Industries with high added-value are clearly winners of the new trade policies, and agriculture is too, as the government continues its efforts to boost the rural economy. But in the long run, if textile and other low-tech manufacturing can use the current rebate policy as a stimulus to add more value to their products, even they might look back and see the new trade era as more win-win than they originally thought.     

SINO-BRITISH TIES AT AN OPPORTUNITY POINT

Fu Ying,China's Ambassador to Britain,says growing bilateral ties between the two nations face new opportunities China and Britain are seeing more and more common strategic interests between them and their deepened bilateral relationship is in accordance with social requirements and the wishes of their people,said Fu Ying,China's Ambassador to Britain.For the UK,China's development is an opportunity that will trigger     

Sports on Screen

Thanks to the development of technology and official recognition, today a new band of "athletes" are flexing their muscles. The computer screen is their stadium where they take on the persona of heroes and vie with one an other in a virtual world. For many, these on-screen matches are just as mesmerizing and full of nail-biting suspense as any conventional sport, be it tennis or soccer.     

The Lost Boys And Girls

Mass migrations from China's rural areas to cities has left a generation of children behind"Ihope my parents,or at least one,comes back.I feel lonely all the time,especially at weekends and holidays,"Min Songgui, an elementary school student from a village in Jiangsu Province, wrote in an essay about the hopes for 9.2008. Many children in China's rural areas,whose parents leave to find work in the cities,echo Min's voice.They are known as stay-at-home children and the number of them has risen sharply in recent years.     

Chinese and African Women Enjoy Good Sisterly Friendship

The friendly exchanges between Chinese and African women are an indispensable part of China's diplomacy toward Africa. For half a century ever since China established diplomatic relations with African countries after its liberation, the exchanges between the Chinese and African women have been satisfactory and fruitful; their comradeship in the struggle against imperialism and colonialism has developed to sisterhood. Especially in the new situation of the new era, their exchanges have been …     

Change Is a Must

The days are numbered for China's"golden weeks"as traditional festivals seem set to take their placeThe arrival of China's new holiday system will see an end to the country's May Day golden week and the addition of three traditional festivals,the Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, as public holidays. The change has been a hot topic of discussion in recent months,with people asking why it was done and whether other festivals might be added to the country's national holidays. With these questions in mind,Beijing Review interviewed Li Hanqiu,a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former Director of the Publicity Department of the China Peasants and Workers' Democratic Party,who participated in the process of developing the new holiday system.     

Foreign-funded Banks：A Grip on Their Holy Grail？

ON December 11, 2006, China honored its WTO commitment to open its Renminbi business to foreign banks. Since that date, both locally incorporated foreign-funded banks and joint venture financial institutions are licensed to offer RMB services. Non-incorporated branches may also accept time deposits from Chinese citizens within the territory of China of no less than RMB 1 million for each time. It seems foreign banks at last have one hand on their holy grail - China's 1.3 billion customers. But their grip is so far a weak one. China Youth Daily carried out a survey, and of the 3,384 respondents, 85.2 percent said that they paid close attention to the development. As regards their impression of foreign banks, 66.7 percent said their main advantage was a better service. Just 10.8 percent said they would open an account in a foreign bank, and 16.4 percent said they would wait and see what happens. What lies ahead for foreign banks in China, and how will the phenomenon impact domestic banks in the Chinese mainland?     

First Single Children Come of Age

China’s first generation of single children have now reached the age where they are expected to have gained a solid footing in their careers and started their own families.For many this has been a painful transition.     

Tales of Ferrymen

There is an old Chinese saying,"Heroes emerge in bad times."Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease(COVID-19),tales of heroic acts are heard from all corners.Medical workers are fi ghting at the forefront,deliverymen shuttling from place to place and community staff inspecting from door to door.They are not of iron and steel,but ordinary people who have their own feelings and fears.But when they are needed,they rose to become plebeian heroes,reassuring the country in the midst of trouble.     

Witnesses to Reform and Opening-up

Humble Beginnings When Lin Mingyue and Fan Zeng- sheng made the decision to leave the U.S. for China's mainland 26 years ago their friends were at a loss as to why they should choose to exchange their large house and family car for a poky apartment, a push bicycle and a public transportation in as yet underdeveloped Shanghai. Many of these incredulous friends, however, have since followed the couple's example and also settled in Shanghai. Lin made her first visit to the munici- pality in 1…     

The Prehistoric Homestead at Zhoukoudian

THE earliest residents of Beijing dwelt in the mountain caves at Zhoukoudian to the southwest of down-town Beijing, 700,000 to 230,000 years ago. Their origins and where they moved on to are unknown. But cultural and anthropological arti-facts excavated from the Zhoukoudian caves testify to their existence.     

An Acronym No More

Brazil,Russia,India,and China—otherwise known as the BRIC nations—are enjoying a new and,in ways,unprecedented role on the international stage. The four emerging markets maintained anaverage growth rate of 10.7 percent from 2006 to 2008,according to the International Monetary Fund.With this outstanding performance,they are creating a new economic miracle.In an article recently published in the Beijing-based newspaper Guangming Daily,experts in aresearch team of the Hunan Provincial Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science pointed to atrend known as the "big country effect" as a determining factor in their rapid,sustainable growth.Excerpts from this article follow     

MARKET WATCH

Many of China's shoe manufacturers are closing up shop because of the appreciation of the yuan and slumping global demand. International financial uncertainties prompted China's pre- mier to call for stabilizing the U.S. dollar. Mainland stock markets showed no signs of recovery from this round of global financial mar- ket recession. Share prices of heavily weighted stocks such as China Merchants Bank and Ping An Insurance of China lost 20-30 percent of their value after they announced major overseas acquisitions. Some mainland investors have turned to futures trading in light of the bearish stock markets. Many Chinese hotels are finding they have excessive supplies of rooms they cannot fill. Hougu coffee wants to become the number-one domestic coffee brand.